Abdul Hakim ( bn, আব্দুল হাকিম; c. 1620 – c. 1690) was a Bengali poet and translator who wrote several

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

epics and also translated some

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

manuscripts.

Early life

Abdul Hakim was born in the village of Babupur in 1620. Babupur is generally said to be the modern-day village of Sudharam in the island of

Sandwip Sandwip ( bn, সন্দ্বীপ, Shondip) is an island located along the southeastern coast of Bangladesh in the Chattogram District. Along with the island of Urir Char, it is a part of the Sandwip Upazila. Description Sandwip is locate ...

. In addition to his fluency in the

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

, he also studied

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, Persian and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Career

Abdul Hakim is well known for his patriotism and specially his love for the

. In Abdul Hakim's day, elite Bengali Muslims looked down upon it, favoured the Persian court language instead. Abdul Hakim criticized their disdainful attitude towards the local tongue. Hakim's most notable work was ''Nur Nama'' (Story of Light), a depiction of the life of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. Other books he wrote are ''Shihabuddin Nama'', ''Karbala'', ''Lalmati Saifulmulk'', ''Nasihat Nama'', ''Chari Mokam Bhedh'', '' Shahar Nama'', ''Hanifar Ladai'', and ''Durre Majlish''. He translated the

romance '' Yusuf Wa Zulekha'' (1483 AD) in Bengali.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakim, Abdul Bengali male poets 17th-century Bengali poets 1620 births 1690 deaths Bangladeshi writers People from Sandwip Upazila